Unique oppurtunity to Bangaloreans to attend Lecture on “Gita on Management”

 Lecture Session – Gita On Management
 

Date:                              03.05.2009, Sunday

Time :                            05.00 pm

Place:                           VEMANA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

#1, Mahayogi Vemana Road
(100ft Road), 3rd Block,
Near BDA Complex, Koramangala
Bangalore – 560 034

Speaker: Prof: K.B. Akhilesh 

Professor, Department of Management Studies,

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Topic :  Gita On Management

 

 All are invited;

 

 Note: Please come 10 mts before and occupy your seat.

About the Speaker:

Prof. K B Akhilesh is from the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

As a senior professor he has worked with several Indians and Multinationals in the area of Human Resource Management, Technology Management and Knowledge Management. As an active researcher he has published over 100 papers and several books and guided many doctoral students. Significantly he has been associated with Airbus Industries, DaimlerChrysler, Honeywell, Japan Institute of Labor, Hamburg University, George Mason University, Pforzheim Business School, Germany and John Carrol University. He has received several awards including ‘Life-time Achievement’ award from National Institute of Personnel Management in 2008.

Bhagavad Gita and Management

Mind is very restless, forceful and strong, O Krishna, it is more difficult to control the mind than to control the wind ~ Arjuna to Sri Krishna

One of the greatest contributions of India to the world is Holy Gita. Arjuna got mentally depressed when he saw his own kith & kin with whom he has to get into duel. Bhagavad Gita was narrated at the point of battle at Kurukshetra by The Lord Krishna. . It has got all the management tactics to attain the mental equilibrium and to overcome a crisis situation over any task on hand. What makes the Holy Gita a practical psychology of transformation is that it offers one, the tools to connect with the deepest intangible essence and one can learn to participate in the battle of life with right knowledge and achieve success.

Management has become a part and parcel of everyday life, be it at home, in the office or factory and in Government. In all organizations, where a group of human beings assemble for a common purpose, management principles come into play through the management of resources, finance and planning, priorities, policies and practice. Management is a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human effort.

Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their weaknesses irrelevant, say the Management Gurus. It creates harmony in working together – equilibrium in thoughts and actions, goals and achievements, plans and performance, products and markets. It resolves situations of scarcity, be they in the physical, technical or human fields, through maximum utilization with the minimum available processes to achieve the goal. Lack of management causes disorder, confusion, wastage, delay, destruction and even depression. Managing men, money and materials in the best possible way, according to circumstances and environment, is the most important and essential factor for a successful management.

Management guidelines from the Bhagavad Gita

Effectiveness is doing the right things. Efficiency is doing things right. The general principles of effective management can be summed up as: Forming a vision, Planning the strategy to realise the vision, Cultivating the art of leadership, Establishing institutional excellence, Building an innovative organization, Developing human resources, Building teams and teamwork, Delegation, motivation, and communication, Reviewing performance and taking corrective steps when called for. Thus, management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to work for a common goal to the maximum social benefit – in search of excellence.

The critical question in all managers’ minds is how to be effective in their job. The answer to this fundamental question is found in the Bhagavad Gita, which repeatedly proclaims that “you must try to manage yourself.” The reason is that unless a manager reaches a level of excellence

The despondency of Arjuna in the first chapter of the Gita is typically human. Sri Krishna, by sheer power of his inspiring words, changes Arjuna’s mind from a state of inertia to one of righteous action, from the state of what the French philosophers call “anomie” or even alienation, to a state of self-confidence in the ultimate victory of “dharma” (ethical action.)

When Arjuna got over his despondency and stood ready to fight, Sri Krishna reminded him of the purpose of his new-found spirit of intense action – not for his own benefit, not for satisfying his own greed and desire, but for the good of many, with faith in the ultimate victory of ethics over unethical actions and of truth over untruth.

Sri Krishna’s advice with regard to temporary failures is, “No doer of good ever ends in misery.” Every action should produce results. Good action produces good results and evil begets nothing but evil. Therefore, always act well and be rewarded. All clouds will vanish. Light will fill the heart and mind. I assure him of this. This is the message of Holy Gita.

The purport is not to suggest discarding of the Western model of efficiency, dynamism and striving for excellence but to tune these ideals to India’s holistic attitude of “lokasangraha” – for the welfare of many, for the good of many. There is indeed a moral dimension to business life. What we do in business is no different, in this regard, to what we do in our personal lives. The means do not justify the ends. Pursuit of results for their own sake is ultimately self-defeating.  ‘Niswartha’ or selfness or selfish towards humanity, appreciation of the creator is the essence of success.

Let us go through what scholars say about Holy Gita.Albert Einstein

“When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day.”

 

 

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